Statute barred debts and the Limitation Acts

fermi

Horsey_Lady wrote: »

On 22/08/14 MORTIMER CLARKE SOLICITORS wrote to us stating that they had been instructed by their client (Cabot) that no County Court Judgement had been issued for this debt?? and they were going to start court proceedings against us. I have received the dreaded County Court Claim Form this weekend.

Well, a CCJ has already been obtained hasn't it. Can't be statute barred, but equally you are not allowed to go for a 2nd CCJ on the same debt.

I would get on to http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums to ask exactly how to oppose this.

ukdalai

Hi, i had a loan with santander that was defaulted in 2005, i had a payment plan with moorcroft for a couple of years, as santander had gained a ccj, i paid the plan for 2 years, when i was in a position to pay more i made them an offer as settlement, at that point there was a balance of around £6400, i offered moorcroft £4000, but they refused to put it forward to santander.

i contacted santander to ask why there agent had refused the offer, they told me they were no longer using moorcroft and they would look into the account and come back to me, i never heard from them again until now.

the ccj's 6 years expired in august 2011, i have had not contact with anyone regarding this account since feb 2008 which was when moorcroft refused to pass on the offer of settlement.

Santander have now contacted me saying they have sold on the account, and i will recieve contact from a third party and any contact should be made to that company.

my question is this debt statute-barred, im sure it is on time limitation, but not sure if the fact that there was a ccj means that im not protected.

Obviously when i made the offer, i was in a position to settle, now i am not.

Thanks for your help
Craig

fermi

The whole concept of something being statute barred is that is is a legal bar/time limit on starting court action.

As court action has already been taken by definition the debt cannot be statute barred. The legal action that might be barred has already happened.

However, there is a separate rule that says a company can only enforce a CCJ with permission of the court if they have not triued to do it for a period of more than 6 years.

See this post explaining: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=66318338&postcount=5

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hello there,

The general rule with the courts is that six years is sufficient time for a judgment creditor to enforce their judgment. It is only likely to be the case that enforcement would be allowed if they have frequently tried to enforce the judgment over the years without any luck. Allowing enforcement beyond the six years is very much the exception rather than the rule.

Two cases where permission to enforce on these grounds were refused are:
Duer v Frazer [2001] 1 All ER 249
Patel v Singh [2002] EWCA Civ 1938

Leave was granted in The Society of Lloyds v Longtin as the claimant had tried to enforce over the years.

There is also discussion within Patel v Singh that outlines that leave could be granted if the defendant has a significant improvement in their financial circumstances after the six years is over.

In reality, it is incredibly uncommon for a DCA to try and enforce a very old debt. Whether or not this happens in your case remains to be seen - though I would be very, very surprised if it happens. I cannot give you a definitive guarantee, however, DCAs can be a very unpredictable bunch at times.

Very best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

ukdalai

ok thanks for that, am i right in thinking that if they wanted to pursue this they would need to obtain a new court order for bailiff action.

im just trying to work out how to handle the DCA who contacts me.

its been nearly 7 years since i had any contact about this case.
Craig

fermi

Not a new court order, but permission to enforce the one they have. Which would require them to apply to the court for it. As said, unlikely to be allowed, but not impossible.

ukdalai

so if i get a letter from the new DCA should i reply saying i believe they will be unlikely to get permission to enforce the original judgement.
over half the original debt was paid prior to feb 2008. i do not want bailiffs on my doorstep, and i cannot afford to pay it off.

Craig

National_Debtline

ukdalai wrote: »

so if i get a letter from the new DCA should i reply saying i believe they will be unlikely to get permission to enforce the original judgement.
over half the original debt was paid prior to feb 2008. i do not want bailiffs on my doorstep, and i cannot afford to pay it off.

Craig

Hi Craig

I think you should wait to see what (if any) contact you get from the new DCA before deciding on your response. Believe it or not, DCAs sometimes buy old debts without even knowing that there is a CCJ in place. This debt is likely to be one of a whole bundle that they will buy up from Santander at the same time and they will not necessarily have extensive information about each individual account.

Whatever the case, I think it is probably unlikely to result in "bailiffs on your doorstep". As you will see from David's advice above (helpfully reposted by fermi), the court's permission would be needed for any enforcement and this is far from certain to be granted.

Why not post back here and/or seek free advice if and when the DCA does get in touch?

Dennis
@natdebtline

ukdalai

will do, thanks for your help.
craig

MAYA58

Hi all :j,
I do have a similar case of credit card old debt which I was trying to solve with the bank following your tremendous guide :T

I contacted the bank for SAR, received huge bundle of papers...
To clear the debit and to calculate PPI. Due to my busy work commitments I was trying to seek some professional to do it for me, then to my surprise the bank assigned the debt to DCA where they issued CCJ against me recently ??!! :eek:
The letter from the bank admitted that they don't have the original CCA.
There was DMP 2007 last payment 2008 stopped due to harsh financial difficulties . A default notice recorded in their system Aug 2008 which I haven't received.

My questions ;
Is the failure to provide the CCA will help me in my defence? i.e.. SB
How to prove the last payment as I was paying cash at my local branch? Though they sent photocopy statements with payment up 2010 which I don't recall??

Your help is highly appreciated

Kind Regards

fatbelly

MAYA58 wrote: »

Hi all :j,
I do have a similar case of credit card old debt which I was trying to solve with the bank following your tremendous guide :T

I contacted the bank for SAR, received huge bundle of papers...
To clear the debit and to calculate PPI. Due to my busy work commitments I was trying to seek some professional to do it for me, then to my surprise the bank assigned the debt to DCA where they issued CCJ against me recently ??!! :eek:
The letter from the bank admitted that they don't have the original CCA.
There was DMP 2007 last payment 2008 stopped due to harsh financial difficulties . A default notice recorded in their system Aug 2008 which I haven't received.

My questions ;
Is the failure to provide the CCA will help me in my defence? i.e.. SB
How to prove the last payment as I was paying cash at my local branch? Though they sent photocopy statements with payment up 2010 which I don't recall??

Your help is highly appreciated

Kind Regards

If you have received a court claim you should first acknowledge service (you can do this online) which will give you extra time to respond.

If you have received the judgement you will be looking to set it aside and will need a reason why you did not respond.

I think you mean that you have had a court claim.

If there has been a clear six-year period when you did not acknowledge the debt by payment or in writing then I would normally say that a statute barred defence is the way to go and forget the more tricky CCA defence. But if they are inventing payments, which seems to be becoming a common problem, probably the best place for help with the detail of defending your court claim seems to be legalbeagles:

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?105-Received-a-Court-Claim